After half a year of exploration, Chen Mobai had traversed the entire Qingguang Island.

Three months ago, the flock of Black Plague Birds that had been lingering outside the island had migrated away due to the depletion of food in these waters.

With no more concerns, Chen Mobai had turned over the key marketplaces and the locations of the teleportation arrays several times.

His greatest gain was a storage bag he found in the ruins of a collapsed marketplace.

He didn’t know who the unlucky soul was that left it behind. Perhaps they were afraid of being targeted during a battle if they kept it on their person, so they hid it in their house, never expecting the entire Qingguang Island to fall.

However, Chen Mobai didn’t know how to open it, and he didn’t dare to ask at the Immortal Gate.

So he kept it in his hand, waiting for a future opportunity, or after he joined the Shenmu Sect, to figure out a way.

Besides this unopenable storage bag, the other intact magical tools included a black iron rod, a curved knife, an axe, five crossbows, and sixteen bottles of elixir.

Chen Mobai collected the elixirs and stored them in his cave.

The rest were given to Wu Wan for appraisal. It turned out that apart from the materials being somewhat valuable, the crafting methods of these magical tools were exceptionally crude, and their usage was the same as ordinary weapons, just needing to infuse spiritual power.

Since these items were all large, Chen Mobai couldn’t be bothered to carry them off Qingguang Island, so he simply handed them all over to Wu Wan.

The total price was 138,000 Good Deeds, which was a decent reward for his half-year of hard work.

Now, his account had a total of 320,000 Good Deeds, including the 200,000 given by Shen Juanxiu and deducting the investment in drawing talismans over the past six months. He had achieved a comfortable life.

Unfortunately, over the past six months, he had been busy scavenging on Qingguang Island and switching to the Pure Yang Scroll, and hadn’t fully invested in the Immortal Gate’s rush to buy the three treasures of Foundation Establishment. Otherwise, his assets could have doubled.

But this was fine too. After all, if he had been successful in consecutive purchases, it couldn’t be explained by good luck, and it might attract official attention.

Over the past six months, Chen Mobai had searched the surface of Qingguang Island and felt that there might still be some things underground, but he couldn’t possibly turn the entire island upside down.

Moreover, the Shenmu Sect was about to start recruiting loose cultivators, and he couldn’t waste time here.

So he decided to leave.

Using the spirit tree, he made a simple raft. With the sixteen bottles of elixir he had harvested on the island, Chen Mobai left this deserted island that had given him many memories.

He opened the Turtle Treasure, and a mostly blank map appeared before his eyes.

After careful consideration, Chen Mobai decided to go to the island managed by Nanxi Marketplace first.

What was the situation there?

Was it also destroyed in the beast tide?

If the teleportation array there was destroyed, Chen Mobai would probably have to drift in the Dream Swamp for nearly a month before he could return to land.

Using the compass he had bought in advance from the Immortal Gate to determine the direction, and comparing it with the map in the Turtle Treasure, Chen Mobai began his journey of drifting alone on a raft.

It would take three days to get there from Qingguang Island.

When dawn broke, he found a reef to land on, tied up the raft, and clicked to return to the city.

After spending a quiet New Year with his mother Tang Pancui, Chen Mobai went to his aunt and uncle’s house with her. When the elders started playing mahjong, he took his sister Wang Xinying to watch a New Year blockbuster.

The film told a beautiful story of a young man who fought against heaven and earth, finally saving his wife and growing old together.

After watching it, Chen Mobai forgot about the content, but Wang Xinying was engrossed in it. When they left, she was still reminiscing about the protagonist’s perseverance and loyalty to love.

“By the way, brother, where’s that beautiful sister-in-law from last time? Why didn’t you bring her home?”

Wang Xinying’s words left Chen Mobai at a loss for words.

“I told you, we’re just ordinary friends.”

“I understand…”

Seeing his sister’s smirking face, Chen Mobai couldn’t help but ruffle her twin bun hairstyle. Amid her startled screams, he laughed and ran away.

In the joyful play of the siblings, the New Year was filled with celebration.

However, Wang Xinying’s words reminded Chen Mobai.

He hadn’t contacted Qing Nv for a long time.

How was she doing recently?

Did she succeed in refining the Fire Clearing Pill?

Was Yang Jing’s injury okay?

Thinking about it, he directly made a call.

The next day, they met at the same grilled fish restaurant.

“Here!”

Qing Nv handed a large bottle of elixir to Chen Mobai.

“What’s this?”

“Fire Clearing Pill.”

“You succeeded?”

“I failed many times at first, even failing to extract the medicinal herbs. Then I asked Teacher Shangqing for help. She invited a pharmacist from Baoping Medicine Shop to guide me for half a month, and even rented me a lower-grade second-order alchemy furnace. After wasting seven furnaces of raw materials, I finally succeeded once.”Qing Nv was counting on her fingers, talking about the difficulties she faced in alchemy. However, once she successfully concocted a batch of Qinghuo Pills, everything else was a smooth ride for her.

All the Qinghuo Pills she had successfully concocted in the past six months were here.

“Did you keep any for yourself?”

Chen Mobai took them and counted with his divine sense, there were surprisingly 24 pills.

“No, after all, we agreed that all the successful concoctions would be yours.”

Qing Nv shook her head. She was already very satisfied with the proficiency she gained in alchemy.

“The 300,000 Good Deeds I won from betting, after deducting the handling fee, I bought the raw materials for 14 batches of Qinghuo Pills, and there are still 12,000 Good Deeds left. I’ll transfer them to you.”

“No need, didn’t I say before, I want to give you a little reward, consider these as your alchemy remuneration.”

Chen Mobai refused to take the money. When Qing Nv was arrested and lost her source of income, he had said that he would pay her for each alchemy session, as a sponsorship for her tuition at the Sentence Mang Dao Academy.

“Then I won’t be polite.”

Qing Nv didn’t hesitate, she thanked him generously and accepted the money.

“By the way, can I buy a Qinghuo Pill from you?”

After the grilled fish was served, Qing Nv suddenly said something that surprised Chen Mobai.

“You could have just given me one less, I wouldn’t know.”

“I’m not that kind of person.”

Qing Nv pouted a little angrily, Chen Mobai immediately apologized, then opened the medicine bottle and poured out a pill for her.

“I’m buying it for Yang Jing, she practices the Two-Part Divine Technique, and has some problems with her divine sense.”

Saying this, Qing Nv transferred 5000 Good Deeds to Chen Mobai.

He wanted to refuse, but Qing Nv insisted that he take the money.

Seeing her persistence, Chen Mobai had no choice but to accept.

“Oh, you guys are here first.”

At this moment, Yan Bingxuan’s voice sounded from behind them.

Beside her, Mo Simin looked at Chen Mobai and Qing Nv, who were already seated, with a shocked expression.

“You said you were having dinner with a friend, and it’s them?”

Mo Simin turned her stiff face to ask her good friend. Yan Bingxuan nodded lightly, then pulled her to sit down.